The Death of Col. Henry Clay Pate

The Death of Col. Henry Clay Pate. . , Fifth Virginia Cavalry , In an attempt to slow the Union assault, Lomax moved the rest of his brigade including Col. Pate and his Fifth Virginia Cavalry into position in a shallow cut of Telegraph Road. Stuart observed the action taking place through his field glasses, and saw the importance for Pate and his men to make a stand and halt Merritt's advance. Stuart ordered his aide, Lt. The-odore Garnett to, "'Go and tell Colonel Pate to hold the position at all hazards.", Garnett rode and found Pate trying to rally his men. On hearing Stuart's order for him to hold the ground at all costs, Pate complied, fully realizing that this order was a virtual death-sentence., Union soldiers of the New York and Pennsylvania regiments began to advance on Telegraph Road and slammed into Pate and his troops. The sunken road furnished Pate and his men little defense. With his forces collapsing around him, Pate with his sword raised stood tall and desperately shouted, "One more round, boys, and then we'll get to the hill," moments later a bullet struck his forehead, killing him instantly., The intense fighting and heavy cannon fire at Yellow Tavern echoed for miles through Henrico County, and was even heard inside the city of Richmond, causing Confederate government clerk John Beauchamp Jones to write in his diary:, "The battle raged furiously; every gun distinctly heard at our house until 1 p.m. The enemy being entrenched between our middle and outer line of works. Meanwhile our ambulances are arriving every hour with the wounded coming in by the Brooke Turnpike.", By 2 o'clock, lacking sufficient support, Merritt's division retired back toward Mountain Road and waited for the rest of Sheridan's force to arrive. During the lull of battle, a message arrived to Stuart from Gen. James B. Gordon, reporting the victory his North Carolina cavalry had over Sheridan's rear guard in Hanover County, at Ground Squirrel Bridge. Stuart upon reading the report, slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "Bully for him!" and then said, "Would to God that Gordon were here!", Dark clouds thickened as rain began to fall. Men on both sides became soaked as the rain steadily intensified. At 3:30 p.m. the Confederates observed a stir of movement in the woods held by the Union forces. Thirty minutes later Custer rode at the head of his company leading his First Michigan Wolverines towards the guns of the Baltimore Light Artillery on Telegraph Road as his band played, "Yankee Doodle Dandy."